Finding balance in this crazy world one bite at a time…

Archive for May, 2012

I know I’ve been a slacker blogger this past 5 days but I’ve had family in town and have been enjoying time with them. But I’m back and have a box full of goodies I received this month.

This month I was paired with Lisa from The Daily RUNdown. I think we may be secret bff’s or she somehow read my mind. She managed to send me things I LOVE without me even telling her or having talked to her previously. Seriously she included peanut butter, chocolate, nuts and home baked goodies. How much better does it get than that?

This is the package I received and I was in love. I will confess that some things didn’t even make it out of the box before I started snacking on them.

I wish we had a Publix near me so I could devour and stock my cabinets with this stuff. Seriously such a good combo of stuff. This nut mix is Chocolate Cranberry Crunch and was salty and sweet and delicious. I want some right now!

These bad boys barely made it to my cabinet because I opened them right up as well. I usually don’t like chili flavored stuff but these were great. Nice and crunchy with a good taste just like I like my chips!

I already ate the blueberry muffin Larabar since I’ve been wanting to try it forever and haven’t taken the plunge to get it. I’m hiding the apple pie one for a later date and I’ll let you know how it is. I love almonds but am the only person in the world that doesn’t like wasabi so these weren’t up my alley. But have no fear they found a good home (or belly) in my co-worker who loves them. I can hear her munching on them sometimes.

Finally my favorite thing to get is baked goods. Lisa added two baked goods. One was a no-bake chocolate PB cookie that didn’t make it in one piece but I still ate it and it was great. The other was a pistachio type treat from Israel I believe. It had a good and different taste to it. It was a little bitter but then sweet and very decadent.

I want to give a big shout out to Lisa for such a great package. Go check out her page! You can also go see what I got Jane from The Healthy Beehive.

On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!

The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)

Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.

Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

I’m starting my weekend off the best way possible for a Friday. I’m working from home – woo hoo! Sitting in bed with a warm mug of coffee watching the news in your PJs is pretty much the best way to work EVER. I wish I could work like this everyday. I mentioned last week that things were changing at work. There was a re-organization in our department and my job has completely changed. In all honesty I’m not sure what my new job (and title) even is yet.

I’m usually pretty good with change but this year has been a tough one and this change put me at my wits end. I’ve since calmed down and am kind of just going with the flow. But not knowing what you will be doing going forward is testing my nerves. I like being in control of things and this year I definitely haven’t had control over anything that has happened and it sucks.

Running has been one of the bright spots the past few weeks. When I’m sad, angry, irritated, happy or whatever emotion I go run and it allows me to clear my head and calm down. This weekend should also bring me some relaxation. My mom and brother will be in town and we’re going to a Giants game, and hanging out. We’re also celebrating my mom’s birthday. Be on the look out next week for the cake I made her.

But before the week is over here are my favorite Pinterest finds of the week. Have a great (LONG) weekend!

My quads have been so tight this week. I think I may have over done the squats and lunges the other day mixed with my training for the 10k. Squats and lunges are no joke everyone they get me every stinking time. I’ve been really good this week (and last) about sticking to my training plan. I like crossing off lists so I made a little calendar with what I need to do each day and when I finish I can add a few notes about how far my run was, time and if I did cross training on non run days. It’s definitely helped keep me accountable. Plus, it annoys me when a day doesn’t get an X or I have to draw lines to move stuff. I can’t help it. I like things pretty neat and tidy and red lines everywhere are not pretty folks, not at all.

Fact – I like veggies and lots of them. When I go to the grocery store I often wonder if people think I’m robbing the produce section since my basket is literally over flowing with them. Darren usually makes fun and then I kick smile at him and say there is never enough produce. Some weeks I run out too quickly and have to live off of carrots and oatmeal but other weeks I have WAY too much (but don’t tell Darren you heard me say that). So what do I do when I have a surplus of veggies on their last leg before they hit the trash can?

I make stir fry! This is one of the easiest, most versatile and delicious recipes I make when I have extra veggies lying around that wont make it much longer. No veggie goes uneaten in this house folks. I hate wasting food but eating a mushy zucchini is not appealing even in the slightest. So before I let that dear zucchini get to that point I chop him up and throw him in. You can make this with just veggies, with meat, with tofu and pretty much anything else you can think up. For this one I actually did tofu. I have thrown in many different veggies but this particular time I had green beans, broccoli, asparagus and carrots.

Teriyaki Veggie Stir Fry

Ingredients:

Tofu

Veggies

Pineapple Chunks (my secret and favorite ingredient)

Teriyaki Sauce

Olive Oil

Directions:

Press your tofu to get all the moisture out. Emily at Daily Garnish has a great tutorial on cooking tofu if you’ve never done it before. I seasoned my tofu for a few moments with pepper and the teriyaki sauce.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and add tofu. Cook until the tofu is crispy on the outside.Set aside.

In a separate pan pour your veggies that take a little longer to steam (carrots, etc.) and a tablespoon or two of water. Add the rest of your veggies and steam till al dente. I like mine soft but not too soft.

This past weekend I was cravinv a sweet treat like it was going out of style. I scoured my cabinets and came up pretty much empty handed in the chocolate department. If you know me at all you know this is bad news bears that my chocolate supply is THAT dangerously low. Like end of the world bad. So as I cried stood in the kitchen hitting thinking something up when a light bulb popped over my head- just like in the cartoons.

I had 2 bananas on their last leg, a couple tablespoons of my favorite peanut butter and luckily I found a half used bag of chocolate chips buried in the back of a drawer. Luckily for me these three things were all I needed to cure my sweet tooth and I didn’t have to take any drastic measures.

I think I saw something similar on Pinterest but I could be making that up and trying not to take credit if no one likes these as much as I did. Miraculously there are still some in my freezer. I don’t know how but I have a sneaking suspicion Darren was hiding them under the bag of peas. I HATE peas with a fiery passion. He’s sneaky I tell you, really sneaky. Luckily I get home before he does and I can polish these off before he even knows what hit the freezer.

You should try out this bad boy I did yesterday at the gym. Total body workout that made me a sweaty mess. I started out with a 30 minute elliptical warm up and finished it out with some stretching and a few ab exercises.

I like to be honest and ‘keep it real’ in my life so lets talk sweat. Yes, you read that right – sweat. You know that liquid substance that seems to drip and congregate on all your favorite work out gear. I sweat when I work out and I’m not afraid to admit it. Do I feel gross? Not usually. Sweating is the body’s way of regulating temperature. It’s a healthy and necessary bodily function. Plus, if you exercise regularly you might sweat easier and more aggressively than people who live a more sedentary life.

You’re probably asking why is this crazy lady bringing up sweat out of the blue. I over heard a conversation in the locker room of the gym when I was grabbing my stuff the other day. Two girls were like “OMG did you see that girls shirt covered in sweat. So gross. She was so sweaty she had to use a towel to wipe it from her face. It’s so sick.”

I couldn’t help over hear because lets face it they were practically yelling their business to everyone in there. The conversation bugged me because I know the woman they were talking about. Yeah she was sweaty but that lady was working her butt off. She ran up a storm then got down with her bad self on the elliptical and then moved to some weights. She put nearly everyone else in the gym that day to shame with her workout. I was impressed not disgusted by her sweating because girl was doing work!

When I first started going to the gym I was terrified if I had any sweat on me. Now I wear it as a badge of honor. I sweat because I worked my butt off and I’m 100% OK with that. I wipe down equipment and use a towel and expect others would do the same. So to all you sweaters out there. Sweat it out!

Besides sweat I had a great weekend that involved some unsuccessful shopping and Bay to Breakers craziness. It was another nice weekend to put under my belt.

Sorry for such a late post. I feel like every Friday I say it’s been a crazy week but I assure you this week was one of the craziest. There were some big changes at work and I’m still not 100% sure what’s going on. I’ve been stressed a lot about that. I’m usually pretty good with change but this one has thrown me for a loop and frustrated me beyond belief. I’m going to play it by ear and take it one day at a time.

So with my scattered brain this week I forgot to publish my recipe for yesterday so I’m going to hold it till next week since I don’t generally update on the weekend. But instead for your viewing pleasure I have some tasty looking recipes I found on pinterest that are definitely going to be on my plate sometime soon. Enjoy and have a fantastic weekend!

I did it. I started training for my first 10k. After I finish that I will start training for my first half marathon. I’m nervous and excited. My ultimate goal is to do a half marathon by my 28th birthday in February. There is actually one 2 days after my birthday that I think will be my goal one to run. It’s a flat course and only costs $50 for registration. Not bad if you ask me. The 10k is in August. I have two options. We’ll see which one fits better with my schedule. I have some traveling for work at the beginning of the month so I may have to do the one at the end to be safe.

For the 10k I’m following the Jeff Galloway 10k training plan. It’s 13 weeks and seems very doable. I want to build my endurance, distance and speed and I think how this plan is laid out will help me achieve my goals. My ultimate goal with both the 10k and the half is just to finish. I have a time in mind I want to finish both by but will be happy with just finishing. So here goes nothing for the girl who couldn’t run a block a few months ago.

In other news I have another tasty recipe for you that I made a few weeks back. I love me Mexican food and could never give it up. However, I know it’s generally insanely unhealthy and must limit myself when it comes to the crack tortilla chips. So in my quest to find balance and live a healthy lifestyle I find myself always thinking up fun and healthier alternatives to traditional Mexican dishes I love.

One dish I love is enchiladas. I ‘healthified’ these a tad and they still turned out great. They are so versatile and easy that you could include ANYTHING you want in them. I’ve tried black bean and corn, chicken, pork, and plain cheese.

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Makes: 8-10

Prep Time: 45 Minutes

Cooking Time: 15-20 Minutes

Ingredients:

3 Chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)

1 Jar (or can) of enchilada sauce

1-2 cups of cheese (depends on how cheesy you want them)

8-10 Corn tortillas

Optional mix ins – sliced olives, black beans, corn, etc.

Directions:

Preheat over to 375 degrees

Boil the chicken for 30-45 minutes or until done.

Spray cooking spray in dish you will be using to bake in and set aside.

While chicken is boiling get the rest of the ingredients prepared. Placing everything in a bowl makes it a lot easier to grab handfuls when your hands are a mess from the enchilada sauce.

Slice chicken (or shred) into small bite size pieces and place in a bowl.

Heat your corn tortillas up for about a minute or until softer and more manageable.

Pour enough enchilada sauce on a plate (large enough for tortilla to sit) and dip one corn tortilla in the sauce on both sides.

Place tortilla in baking dish and fill with small handfuls of ingredients. For these ones I did chicken, then cheese, and sliced black olives.

Roll up the tortilla. I find putting the crease at the bottom of the pan helps these to stay together.

Repeat until all ingredients gone (minus the enchilada sauce).

Pour the remainder of the enchilada sauce over the top of all the rolled enchiladas. I also like to sprinkle a little of the cheese if there is some left over and some sliced black olives.

Place in oven and bake 15-20 minutes. You do not want to overcook these or the tortillas will be hard and dry. They simply need to be warmed up so the cheese melts because the chicken is already cooked.

About Me

Hi, I'm Jillian, a 27 year old living in San Francisco, CA. I have a passion for food, fitness and life. This blog follows me on my journey through life and how I find balance each day between working full time, leading a healthy lifestyle, and finding time to enjoy this crazy ride called life.